What the hell do I have to do to lose weight? Huh? HUH???

[LunaNorth]

I’ve stopped drinking - 38 days AF so far, with no plans to restart.

I’ve completed C25K, three weeks ago, and have kept up running, three times a week since.

I go open water swimming once or twice a week.

I do an hour-long yoga class every week.

I have three dogs that get walked every day.

I have a Fitbit, and always make sure I do my 10,000 steps and always do more active minutes than the target.

I’m also coeliac, which curtails my options when it comes to eating out and takeaways. Lockdown put a stop to meals out, too.

All this effort, and I haven’t lost an ounce! I don’t have scales, granted, but my waist has INCREASED by an inch and my clothes feel exactly the same tight.

Wtf? I’m so fed up. Yes, I do eat a lot, always have, but it’s mostly good stuff, and with the not drinking, no gluten, tons of exercise, I had hoped I’d be allowed the odd treat. Clearly not.

Is this it, then? Does middle age mean living on lettuce and a dream if I don’t want to resemble a pit pony?

And please don’t take away my carbs. I thrive on them. I’ve tried low-carb and it gives me a headache.

I want to avoid all diets if possible. I’ve done SW and WW in the past, as well as 16:8. I just can’t sustain it.

Is anyone else in a similar position? What do I have to do?!

Sorry - you have to count calories, at least for a bit. You must be over eating not to have lost any weight. I'm afraid exercise alone won't cut it. It's easy to over eat without realising. Track with MFP for a while to get a better idea of how much you're really eating. Good luck!!

PS you can still eat carbs & lose weight... but you need to track!!

you can’t outrun your fork

Right, I’ve re-downloaded MFP and I’ve logged today’s food.

I’ve set myself a calorie limit of 1800 after calculating my TDEE (can you tell I’ve been here before?)

I’m now trying to link the app to my Fitbit. And I’ll bite the bullet and buy some scales.

Gulp. I guess if I can stop drinking I can do this...

Your body is producing too much cortisol and you are retaining weight because of it. Probably all the running is putting you into a state of inflammation - which being Celiac (sorry don’t know how to spell) you body is well practiced at the inflammation response.

What you need to do is:
Drink at least 2l of water per day
Two 500 cal fast days
Keep the swimming
Do 3 x 30 mins HIIT workouts per week
If you can tolerate it have a baked potato for lunch on the days you do the HIIT
Eat mainly whole foods, limit but don’t eliminate rice, quinoa, potatoes and have them for lunch not dinner
No sugar

This will work with your body not against it at any age.

you can’t outrun your fork

I can, you know! I burn 1000 cals through exercise in a day. One run (just over an hour) about 700 to 750 cals and one walk of about an hour 350 to 400 calories. Add that to a TDEE of 1500 cals which means eating 1500 to 2000 cals will give me enough deficit to lose 1 to 2lb a week. With that allowance I manage to have a cooked breakfast, good lunch and dinner, glass of wine or two if I want, some cream in my coffee and a chocolate truffle or two in a day.

I’m over 40. I am currently losing weight by calorie counting. I’m still eating carbs, albeit smaller portions. I’m losing a pound a week. I have done no carb before and lost much more quickly but I can’t sustain it and it’s gone back on just as quickly.

I’m now trying to link the app to my Fitbit. And I’ll bite the bullet and buy some scales.

But you don't need to with FitBit? You can log food on there (on the food tab on the app). It has its own food database. Very quick and easy.

Being over 40 is fucking shit everyone warns you and warns you and we just breeze through our twenties and thirties eating what we like, exercising or crash dieting when we've over done it. Sleeping in our make up like "ha ha it will never happen to me"
Then bam. Overnight your skin needs proper looking after and no amount of running will shift that food!!

It’s definitely not as simple as “eat less move more”. There are forces at play in your body - like hormones - preventing weight loss.

Listen to or read the Obesity Code - it’s an eye opener. It explains the play of insulin and hormones in your body and outlines why it’s so fucking hard for some people to lose weight.

Right - I'm 47 and weighed 12st 3lb this time last year and I'm 5'4" so was very firmly in the overweight category. I lost half a stone in October doing the Fast 800. I put half of that back on again by Christmas. I vowed to not be fat and middle aged this year. Can't do anything about my age.

Joined a transformation gym in January. Lost half a stone in 6 weeks through calorie counting and weights three times a week. Did a weightloss and weights programme in lockdown. Lost a stone, so a stone and half lost by May. Carried on with the weights sessions and went back into the gym when they reopened. Have not put on any weight. Doing a fat loss muscle building programme with them now. I haven't lost more weight yet, but I am shrinking - smaller waist and definitely less body fat.

I haven't eaten so much in years - high protein, controlled fat and carbs are allowed. Have not felt hungry once. Yes, I don't drink alcohol and don't have puddings, etc. I just track calories and macros and work out three times a week.

Don't eat back your exercise calories on MFP and put weights into your exercise regime instead of some of the cardio.

As a fellow carb lover, I also HATE diets. But sadly the fact is if you’re eating carbs you have to burn them off, and that means a LOT of exercise, much more than a few 5k’s and walking with your Fitbit.
I try and eat as healthy as possible in the week (lean meat or fish with some carbs every day). I always allow myself a treat - usually a bag of crisps.
At the weekend I eat whatever I like. That was I’m not really dieting as I know I can always look forward to my weekends.
But I also (pre Covid) would work out 4 times a week at the gym, body pump, body combat, at least a 10k run at the weekends and commuting to work every day 7 miles on my bike.

You can't out train a bad diet. It really is as simple as take in fewer calories than you expend. If you exercise well and watch your calories and macros you'll lose weight.

@CodenameVillanelle most people burn 1500-2000 calories just by living and breathing. Add on 10,000 steps a day and a class of some sort and I usually burn about 3500 on a typical day. If I've done closer to 20000 steps I'm around 4000 cals a day.

I have lost weight by substituting heavy weight training for cardio. Don’t understand the science but 2 sessions a week plus a bit of Pilates and I’m half a stone lighter than when I was running 🤷‍♀️

I’ll give this a go for a bit, as I really enjoy the running. I don’t want to give it up - it really sorts my head out.

If things haven’t improved after a month I’ll have another think.

If you look at how many calories a big plate of spaghetti Bol has, and how many calories you burn swimming for 20 minutes you'll see it doesn't begin to cover the food intake

It's depressing but you need to eat less

Nothing wrong with cardio if that's what you like. I've lost 3 stone through mainly cardio and maintaining calorie deficit of 500 to 1000 calories. Better consistently do an exercise you like than struggle with one you don't like.

Sounds like you’re doing plenty of exercise, but the only at I lose weight is by reducing calories. I notice very little difference with just exercise and cutting out the nice things. I’m doing weigh watchers at the moment- green plan with 30 points a day. It’s working, but only because you can’t really eat much, especially carbs. It’s horrible, but it’s working. Reducing how much I eat (particularly carbs) is the only thing that really works for me - it’s miserable, but true.

Sorry to ask a silly question, but are you actually overweight ? You say size 24 but that can mean anything

I am a 14, because I like loose fitting clothes and also as a tall person, size 14 isn’t always really “big” Imo

To me it sounds like you’re on the right track keep running

Size 14, not 24

You need to reduce your calories.

You could eat the best food in the world. You could only eat lettuce. But if you're eating too much then it's still calories.

Sorry to hear about the loss of your parents OP, sounds like a horrible year. I think I'd just be eating and drinking everything if that happened. Hope you get the results you want.

Read ‘Why we eat too much’

It strongly advises against diets!

[quote Looneytune253]@CodenameVillanelle most people burn 1500-2000 calories just by living and breathing. Add on 10,000 steps a day and a class of some sort and I usually burn about 3500 on a typical day. If I've done closer to 20000 steps I'm around 4000 cals a day. [/quote]
Exactly. So why are you eating So little???